The Almhouses

The Almshouses is a row of four almshouses, now converted into a single dwelling, built in the late 17th century for Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham. The building features tooled coursed squared stone and a pantile roof. It is single-storey with an attic and consists of four cells. There is a plinth and two sets of paired chamfered quoined doorways with triangular soffits to the lintels, flanked by two tightly recessed chamfered mullion windows. The structure has ashlar coping on shaped kneelers with ball finials, and rebuilt end and central ridge stacks.

At the rear, there is a single tightly recessed chamfered window for each cell, with the second from the right enlarged to a two-light window. A central door and skylights have been inserted. Each return has two recessed chamfered tights to the gables. Inside, there are chamfered and stop-chamfered spine beams. End fireplaces with adjacent stone spiral staircases remain, with the right end being plastered over and the left end featuring a chamfered surround and a massive two-piece lintel. The attic has large-scantling purlins, and the attics of the central almshouses were previously lit by dormers, with the stacks originally corniced. The roof was initially constructed with coupled common rafters and occasional collars. The building has been dated dendrochronologically to 1680, plus or minus nine years.